IRS Seeking Applications for Volunteer Tax Assistance Program Grants

Published: May 24, 2011

IR-2011-56, May 23, 2011

WASHINGTON –– The Internal Revenue Service is accepting applications for the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) grant programs, which will allow some organizations to apply for annual funding for up to three years.

Applications will be accepted May 23, 2011, through June 30, 2011. Previous grant recipients will have the option to apply for up to three years of annual funding which would reduce the amount of paperwork they must complete over the three-year period. This annual funding will also help recipients with budget planning.

In 2011 the IRS awarded 31 TCE grantees $6.1 million and 179 VITA grantees $12 million. Through April 10, 2011, the two grant programs filed more than 2 million returns at almost 9,000 sites nationwide.

The TCE program was established in 1978 to provide tax counseling and return preparation to persons age 60 or older and to give training and technical assistance to the volunteers who provide free federal income tax assistance to seniors across the nation.

The VITA Grant program was established in 2007 to supplement the VITA program, which was created in 1969. VITA provides underserved communities with free federal income tax filing assistance. The grant program enables VITA to extend services to underserved populations in hard-to-reach urban and non-urban areas, to increase taxpayer’s ability to file returns electronically, to enhance training of volunteers and to improve the accuracy rate of returns prepared at VITA sites.